The Open Door

First of all, I have to say that I really enjoy going to Southeast Georgia. What a beautiful part of the state it is! I have always been partial to coastal areas. When I catch a whiff of salt air, every tightened muscle in my body suddenly relaxes.

Another reason I love going to Southeast Georgia is that my daughter, Kathy, her husband, Kevin, and my granddaughter, Meaghan live in Savannah. When in the area, I always make it a point to find some time to be with my family. Most especially, Meaghan and I have to play in her playroom. This includes my crawling into her playhouse where we prepare dinner together, play with her stuffed animals and just generally laugh and play games that we make up as we go.

Naturally, I was thrilled to see that I had a Southeast Georgia weekend approaching. I must say, however, that my engagements surpassed my expectations. On Saturday evening I participated in the Southeast Georgia Missions Conference. It was held by the Middle and Savannah Associa-tions. The focus of the meeting was upon church planting.

Savannah Association where David Askins is serving as interim associational missionary, and Middle Association where John Forrester is the associational missionary, are setting a very fine standard of cooperation which should be an inspiration to all of us.

With the remarkable influx of population into Chatham, Effingham and other surrounding counties, these two associations knew that something had to happen that would surpass anything they had ever attempted in church planting if they were to effectively reach their exploding population. This conference celebrated the ministries of existing mission churches in Effingham County, Crossroads Community Church and Baptist Mission at Ebenezer. It further challenged the churches represented at the dinner meeting to consider becoming involved in a new church plant.

A representative from the county was on hand to give a statistical update regarding anticipated population growth. I had an opportunity to challenge the group to work together in the planting of new congregations. A part of the emphasis was upon “What Now, America?” our national Southern Baptist emphasis for 2003-2005 in which we anticipate seeing a national harvest of 1,000,000 baptisms, 100,000 new units in Sunday School and 2,500 new church plants in the 2005 church year.

The unique and inspiring event was held at the First Baptist Church of Springfield, where Jeff Rollins is pastor. First Springfield is a thriving church making a lasting impact in the midst of remarkable community growth. I would truly like to see other associations across the state host similar events. If we are to grow in the future, it will be through the church planting process.

From the Saturday night event at First Springfield, I drove early Sunday morning to Brunswick where I had been invited to preach at the Pine Haven Baptist Church where Sammy Chancey is pastor. When I arrived in the area of the church I pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot to briefly make sure that I had everything together that I needed for my morning responsibility. While sitting there in my truck, I noticed something that caused me to think and to commune quietly with the Lord for a few minutes.

Standing around my truck in the parking lot were twenty sea gulls. They were just standing there. Some were walking around slowly pecking at crumbs on the parking lot. I couldn’t help but see this as a sad setting for a sea gull. Here were magnificently beautiful birds, created by God to soar above the ocean darting here and there and diving for a breakfast of fresh fish. This is what God made them to do. These gulls however were standing haplessly around in the Wal-Mart parking lot pecking at stale, soggy crumbs - how sad!

Then I prayed: “Lord, thank you for calling me to be a minister of the Gospel. Thank you for our pastors across Georgia who will stand in their pulpits to preach the Gospel this morning. You have made us to soar in the heavens and to feed on Your Word. Forgive us, Lord, for those times that we fail to be all that you have created us to be. Lord, don’t let us be sea gulls in a Wal-Mart parking lot, existing as something far less than what you created us to be.”

From that pensive moment I went to Pine Haven Baptist Church for a delightful experience of worship and fellowship around the table at the covered dish luncheon that followed. I was joined by John and Nancy Carr. John is the highly effective associational missionary for the Brunswick area. Pine Haven is an unusually happy church. I enjoyed hearing a lot of laughter and joy.

I couldn’t help noticing that Sammy and Gina Chancey, the pastor and his wife, possess a wonderful sense of humor, a contagious smile and a great laugh. It seemed to me that the entire church had been infected with the joy. We had a great time. By the way, Gina’s special dish, bragged on by the church family, was her cornbread salad. For your enjoyment, and with Gina’s approval, I am including the recipe in this column.

I feel so blessed to serve among the wonderful people known as Georgia Baptists. I just wish all of you could travel with me among our churches. You would be thrilled to witness the vibrancy of this Convention!

Gina Chancey's Cornbread Salad

1 box Jiffy cornbread mix (cooked according to directions on back of box)

1 medium bell pepper (chopped into small bite size pieces)

1 or 1 1/2 pint carton of grape tomatoes

1 small onion, chopped

1 can red kidney beans, drained (after draining I wrap them in paper towels to absorb remaining liquid)

1 can whole kernel corn, drained (also wrap in paper towels)

1 jar of bacon bits

1 envelope Hidden Valley Ranch dressing (with buttermilk and mayo) mixed according to directions

Begin by crumbling cornbread and layer in order listed above using 1/2 of all ingredients. Begin second layering in order listed above as well, but reverse the order of bacon bits and dressing. By layering the dressing on top of the corn, the bacon bits will serve as the topping.

This recipe is gorgeous made in a large decorative see-through glass dish.

(Rather than purchasing separate buttermilk, you can add 1 T. vinegar to whole milk.)